Album Review

How do you spell hiatus? For the Killers, you come off a long period of recording and road work that leads to a likely feeling of burnout, not to mention the added emotional trauma of Killers singer Brandon Flowers's mother dying of cancer. Next thing you know, Killers plans are being put on hold, drummer Ronnie Vannuci is gearing up for Mt. Desolation, a side project that includes similarly restless renegades from the Long Winters, Keane, and Noah & The Whale. And then the surest sign of all that it's vacation time for The Killers -- Flowers's first-ever solo album gets under way. Flowers was tight-lipped about the album's details at first, revealing virtually nothing beyond its title, Flamingo, but that didn't stop hungry Killers fans from fantasizing about its possible contents until their heads exploded.